If theres one part of a home where you can cut loose and have fun, its the game room. Whether youre a pool shark or board game enthusiast, having a designated area to spend leisure time with friends and family is a luxury that cannot be overlooked. While these recreation spaces can be a challenge to design, here are a few helpful tips that will have you on your way to hosting the ultimate game night!

Identify Your Space
A large, open area tends to work best for a game room because it allows you to set up distinct spaces for different activities and is conducive to entertaining. For this reason, game rooms are often located in finished basements or converted attics, but they can really be located in any part of the house depending on your needs.

Consider the Games
Once you know the area and layout of the space, the next step is to assess how you plan to use it. Will you need room for billiards or a ping pong table? Maybe a felted card table or a board game area? Whatever it is your family enjoys, try to make the most of the room and have something that everyone will have fun playing together.

Pick a Theme
Having a theme will set the mood for your game room and make it an exciting place to entertain friends. You can go wild with your imagination and recreate a vintage arcade from your childhood that the kids are sure to love, or go for more of grown-up vibe with a sports bar or casino theme.

Functional Decor
Because game rooms are often used as a multipurpose space, its ideal to have furniture that can swivel or be moved around the room easily to accommodate groups of all sizes. Ample shelving and storage space are also important since therell likely be lots of odds and ends piling up, like ping pong paddles, poker chips, board games and more.

Refreshment Area
Whether its a wet bar or a kitchenette, having some sort of refreshment area is a major bonus thatll come in handy when youre hosting game night. After all, you dont want to miss your turn just because you had to run all the way back to the kitchen to make a cocktail for one of your guests!

Published with permission from RISMedia.